Progressive News Daily

by Rachel Slajda
TPM Muckraker

The majority of New Yorkers want the developers of Park51, known to its opponents as the “Ground Zero mosque,” to voluntarily move the community center further from Ground Zero — but the majority also acknowledges the developers’ right to build there if they want.

Newt Gingrich doesn’t feel that way. In a radio interview today, he said he wants the national government to step in and stop the developers from building the Islamic community center by whatever means necessary.

“I think the Congress has the ability to declare the area a national battlefield memorial because I think we should think of the World Trade Center as a battlefield site; this is a war,” he said, apparently thinking that if Ground Zero was a national park, Park51 would be restricted from building near it.

And if that fails, he said, the state government should step in and use its considerable power to stymie the development. (more)

by BooMan
The Booman Tribune

I agree with Joan McCarter completely (per usual) when she says that it’s pure baloney that the president is guilty of liberal overreach and that this is the reason Democrats are doing poorly in the polls. I accept her reasoning, too. That’s the Republicans’ argument, though, and one that is being told in the press. And, this was all kind of predictable, wasn’t it? I mean, even if Obama had governed like Zell Miller we’d be seeing the same charges of liberal overreach, and we were always going to lose some seats in the upcoming election. The story writes itself.

I suppose it matters, marginally, how true the story happens to be. True charges should stick better than false ones. That’s why we have to tell the truth that the president hasn’t done enough to fix the economy because he doesn’t have the necessary political support he would need to inject a sufficient amount of money into the cavernous hole the Bushies carved out of it.

It would help us immensely if the Obama administration would make that argument, because we’ve been making it and it isn’t sticking.

By David Brown
Big League Stew
Yahoo! Sports

Over the past two weeks, Washington Nationals outfielder Nyjer Morgan has transformed into an updated version of Tanner Boyle from the “Bad News Bears.”

In four different incidents, Morgan has exchanged hostilities of varying intensity with nearly every opponent the Nats encountered. Like the pint-sized, foul-mouthed shortstop from the great baseball film, Morgan seemingly wants to take on the entire seventh grade league.

• Morgan is appealing a suspension by the league for throwing a ball into the stands that hit a fan in the face. (At least one Phillies fan has defended Morgan.)

• He was benched by Jim Riggleman on Sunday for unnecessarily running over St. Louis catcher Bryan Anderson on Saturday. Morgan responded to his manager’s chiding by calling it “very unacceptable” and saying he had been fooled into thinking that Anderson had the ball.

(more) (Watch The Marlins/Nationals brawl HERE)

By Saud Mehsud

DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan (Reuters) – Pakistan’s Taliban on Friday took responsibility for triple bombings at a Shi’ite Muslim procession this week, challenging the civilian government further as it struggles with a flood crisis.

Wednesday’s blasts in the eastern city of Lahore in which 33 people were killed was the first major militant attack since floods waters tore through the country over the past month.

“It’s revenge for the killings of innocent Sunnis,” a spokesman for Qari Hussain Mehsud, mentor of the Taliban’s suicide bombers, told Reuters by telephone from an undisclosed location.

Attention has focused on the Pakistani Taliban again after U.S. prosecutors charged its leader, Hakimullah Mehsud, in the plot that killed seven CIA employees at an American base in Afghanistan last December. (more)

By Yvonne Wingett and JJ Hensley
The Arizona Republic

PHOENIX — An Arizona sheriff has been sued by the U.S. Justice Department for refusing to cooperate with a civil-rights probe into police practices and jail operations.

Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio said the lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Phoenix, is disappointing given that he and his office were cooperating on the federal probe. “I thought we were really close to getting this resolved,” the sheriff said.

Arpaio restated his confidence that Maricopa County Sheriff’s deputies do not target Hispanic citizens because of their race, and said if the Justice Department had any evidence of racial profiling, they wouldn’t be suing him to get records to prove that deputies profile.

“This thing is just camoflauge,” he said.

The lawsuit comes after weeks of back-and-forth letters between the agencies, threats to strip the county of federal funding, and a meeting in Washington last week among attorneys to discuss the investigation. (more)

By Michael Holden
Reuters

LONDON (Reuters) – God did not create the universe and the “Big Bang” was an inevitable consequence of the laws of physics, the eminent British theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking argues in a new book.

In “The Grand Design,” co-authored with U.S. physicist Leonard Mlodinow, Hawking says a new series of theories made a creator of the universe redundant, according to the Times newspaper which published extracts on Thursday.

“Because there is a law such as gravity, the universe can and will create itself from nothing. Spontaneous creation is the reason there is something rather than nothing, why the universe exists, why we exist,” Hawking writes.

“It is not necessary to invoke God to light the blue touch paper and set the universe going.”

Hawking, 68, who won global recognition with his 1988 book “A Brief History of Time,” an account of the origins of the universe, is renowned for his work on black holes, cosmology and quantum gravity. (more)

by Dina Raser
truthout.org <—Home Page

There is something missing in the constant political argument about the size of the federal government. Most of the American public want federal programs when needed for disasters, national defense, medical research and the Medicare and Social Security safety net. What the public has said in many polls is that they want not big or smaller government, but effective government. And there is a whole group of good government groups in Washington that work diligently on exposing government fraud and waste and trying to fix it.

One of these organizations, the Project On Government Oversight (POGO), has been exposing fraud and waste for almost 30 years.(Disclaimer: I founded POGO and still serve on its board of directors.) We have worked for decades to expose the wrongdoing and then push Congress and the administration to fix the problem so there won’t be more waste and fraud that so disillusions the public. (more)

by joanmccarter
DailyKos

At the risk of sounding too shrill about the extremism of the Republicans nominated to run for Senate this year, let’s take a look at Alaska’s Joe Miller:

Washington (CNN) – Joe Miller calls President Obama “bad for America” and suggests he is leading the nation on a path to socialism. But the newly minted GOP Senate nominee from Alaska also has a message for the Republican Leadership. Not to mention unapologetic views on cutting federal spending and even possibly phasing out Social Security….

“There is an opportunity to lead this country out of the crisis its in and I believe the Republican Party is well suited to take up that mantle,” Miller said in an interview for Wednesday’s “John King, USA.” which will air at 7pm. “The question is whether or not there’s the courage and leadership in that party to seize the moment and to recognize that the only way out of this is to get out of the age of the entitlement state to return power back to the states and recognize that central government is broken and see what we can do about fixing things and getting the government focused on those areas the enumerated powers that it should be doing. And the Republican Party can do it but it does require courage.”

(more)

By Nick Turse
Alternet.org

Many files, beyond the Afghan War Diary and the ‘Collateral Murder’ video,
continue to hide in plain sight on Wikileaks’ Web site.

In December 2008, I received an email message from Julian Assange — the now world-famous public face of the whistleblower organization, Wikileaks. I don’t recall why or how it came about, but he invited me to join a counterinsurgency “analysis team” alongside a number of other academics, journalists and analysts.

[snip]

COIN of the Realm
Those counterinsurgency (COIN) manuals I read and then never wrote about, as well as other related materials, are still available at Wikileaks and have taken on ever-increasing importance as COIN has become the strategy du jour for the U.S. war in Afghanistan. Wikileaks currently offers no fewer than eight core U.S. counterinsurgency manuals and handbooks as well as numerous supporting materials with special bearing on COIN operations. One of the most important is the U.S. Special Forces Southern Afghanistan Counterinsurgency Handbook of 2006 which was designed to provide “guidance to the commanders and staffs of combined-arms forces that have a primary mission of eliminating insurgent forces and discusses the nature of organized guerrilla units and underground elements and their supporters.” (more)

Visit Wikileaks site HERE

by George Reid
Progressive News Daily

Seventeen years ago, a few years past my divorce, I found myself struggling for funds when an opportunity presented itself to me.

A lifelong friend, whose Mother was our original Cub Scout Den Mother, had a Grandmother (stay with me) who just had suffered a stroke and was rehabbing in a local nursing home. Both my friend and his Mom, concerned about the well-being and care of her two-bedroom home, offered me a deal to rent such for $100 a month!

Prayers answered, and a choir of angels singing, lead me to believe that this was the one chance to get back on my feet. (Years spent on my back, cursing the powers that be, that storm gutters should be swept more often.)

I would be responsible for utilities, and upkeep, and there were a few animals that they would take care of.

As a former Director of a Humane Shelter, I admit to having a soft spot for our 4-legged friends. More a dog person, I had come to respect felines for their independence, cleanliness, and hard to earn affection.

I had two cats of my own at the time. Both rescues, thanks to my daughter, and one who would lick my eyelids in the morning when it was the appointed time to arise. (Think wet sandpaper.)

The house was about 30 miles east of where I worked, located in my old home town. How could things be much better?

Read the rest of this entry »

by Ed Payne
CNN

click for full size

A weakened Hurricane Earl brushed North Carolina’s Outer Banks overnight, flooding coastal highways and sending residents inland.

“In multiple locations, waves have crashed over the tops of the dunes and are now flooding several portions of the main state highway on both the north and south sides through the Outer Banks. This is all happening south of the area called the Oregon Inlet,” CNN’s David Mattingly reported from the community of Waves. “The water is six to eight inches deep and seems to be getting deeper by the minute.”

Ben McNeely from Charlotte, North Carolina, was riding the storm out in the community of Manteo.

“We’re in the middle of the island,” McNeely said. “Surf’s up, waves are up … We’re fully surrounded by water.” (more)

By Tom Bergin
Reuters

LONDON (Reuters) – BP Plc said the cost of dealing with its oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico had risen to $8 billion as the oil giant prepared to release the findings of an internal probe into the causes of the disaster.

BP published figures on Friday which showed that since it capped the well on July 15, it had spent around $90 million/day, in line with the spend rate while the well was gushing over 60,000 barrels per day into the sea.

Analysts had expected that BP’s costs would fall off sharply after the well was sealed for good by drilling a relief well into the base of the blown out well and pumping it full of concrete.

However, a successful effort to install a temporary cap on the well delayed work on the relief well, which BP said on Friday was now likely to be completed in Mid September.

After this, the armada of rigs and ships, some of which cost $1 million a day to operate, working at the drill site can be stood down. (more)

RELATED:
Conference focuses on environmental effects of BP oil spill (video)
New Oil Rig Explosion in Gulf (video/Fox)

by Annie Lowry
The Washington Independent

A few weeks ago, in Henry County, Ga., a woman named Angela Wilson led a local television anchor into her camping trailer, a standard white-clad box on wheels, ready to be pulled into the woods by an RV or a truck. She described how her eyes started to tear up after standing in it a few minutes – not due to emotion, but due to the chemical preservative, irritant and carcinogen formaldehyde.

Unknowingly, Wilson bought one of the 145,000 infamous Katrina trailers – the mobile camping and housing units the Federal Emergency Management Agency bought to house the hundreds of thousands of New Orleanians displaced by the devastation wreaked by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. “We were told that this trailer was in no way related to Katrina, that this trailer came from North Dakota,” Wilson told the camera. She said the out-of-state dealer assured her that chemical contaminants were not an issue. Later, she found a pamphlets from FEMA and state officials in Mississippi tucked away.

Five years after Katrina, the infamous trailers – bought for billions, sold for pennies on the dollar – are still causing trouble. And that trouble and those trailers are now widespread. The campers were once congregated around New Orleans, but now blanket the entire country, uncounted and mislabeled in dealers’ lots, back lawns and sites for oil spill cleanup. (more)

ASHLEY M. HEHER and EMILY FREDRIX
The Huffington Post

CHICAGO — Burger King Holdings Inc., the nation’s perennially No. 2 hamburger chain, said Thursday that it is selling itself to little-known private equity firm 3G Capital in a deal valued at $3.26 billion.

Its shares soared to an 18-month high.

Thursday’s $24-per-share tender offer comes after a day of speculation about the deal that sent shares up more than 15 percent. The offer is a nearly 46 percent premium over the company’s stock price before rumors of a buyout began circulating.

Under the terms of the deal with 3G, Burger King’s Chairman and CEO John Chidsey will become co-chairman of the board and will be joined by 3G Managing Partner Alex Behring as the other co-chairman. (more)

Click Image for larger size

Hurricane Earl packed winds near 140 mph as it blew toward North Carolina on Thursday, putting the Eastern Seaboard up to Maine on alert for a Labor Day weekend pounding by waves, gales and rain.

A hurricane warning for the tip of Massachusetts, including Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard, joined earlier warnings and watches for hurricanes or tropical storms that stretch from North Carolina up to near the Canadian border.

Earl was a dangerous category 4 storm with no significant change in strength forecast before it comes close to the Outer Banks late Thursday, then turns north in rough parallel to the coast, the National Hurricane Center in Miami said.

The center’s director, Bill Read, said the eye of the storm will likely remain about 30 to 75 miles east of the Outer Banks. At the closest point of approach, the western edge of the eye wall could impact Cape Hatteras, with huge waves, beach erosion and maybe some property damage from the waves. (more)

by Paul Steinhauser
CNN.com

**NOTE** Why does the mainstream media have to think they know everything that’s going to happen before it happens? Oh, yes. To sell a story. To make it sexy, so if, by chance their polling was write they can say “And if you recall, CNN told you in early September…”. Why not just report the news as opposed to reporting what you THINK will be news. – JS

It’s the biggest guessing game in this town: Will the Republicans pick up enough House seats in November’s midterm elections to win back control of the chamber?

A new forecast out Thursday says yes. University of Virginia political handicapper Larry Sabato estimates that Republicans will pick up 47 House seats in November, eight more than the 39 seats the GOP needs to reclaim the House.

“2010 was always going to be a Republican year,” writes Sabato, “but conditions have deteriorated badly for Democrats over the summer. The economy appears rotten, with little chance of a substantial comeback by November 2nd.”

Two of the best known non-partisan political handicappers in the nation’s capitol also point towards major gains by the Republicans. The Cook Political Report forecasts a net gain of 35 to 45 seats by Republicans, “with the odds of an outcome larger than that range greater than the odds of a lesser outcome.” (more)

By Scott Lanman
Bloomberg

WE NEED SOME JAIL TIME HERE!

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said he regretted not saying in congressional testimony shortly after the failure of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. in 2008 that the central bank had no authority to save the firm.

The testimony at the time “has supported this myth that we did have a way of saving Lehman,” Bernanke said in response to questions during a Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission hearing in Washington today. “I regret not being more straightforward there because clearly it has supported the mistaken impression that in fact we could have done something.”

Bernanke made the remarks to explain the disparity between his September 2008 testimony that the Fed and Treasury “declined to commit public funds to support the institution” and later statements that the government had no option to save Lehman because of inadequate collateral. The Fed decided at the time against saying Lehman was unsalvageable because it may have risked further panic in financial markets, Bernanke said today.(more)

AP

GRAND ISLE, La. – An offshore petroleum platform exploded and was burning Thursday in the Gulf of Mexico about 80 miles off the Louisiana coast, west of the site where BP’s undersea well spilled after a rig explosion.

The Coast Guard says no one was killed in the blast, which was reported by a commercial helicopter flying over the area Thursday morning. All 13 people aboard the rig have been accounted for, with one injury. The extent of the injury was not known.

Coast Guard Cmdr. Cheri Ben-Iesau said some of those from the rig were spotted in emergency flotation devices.

Seven Coast Guard helicopters, two airplanes and three cutters were dispatched to the scene from New Orleans, Houston and Mobile, Ala., Ben-Iesau said. She said authorities do not know whether oil was leaking from the site.

The Department of Homeland Security said the platform was in about 2,500 feet of water and owned by Mariner Energy of Houston. DHS said it was not producing oil and gas. (more)

by Dennis G.
Balloon Juice

Thank the FSM it is September!

The intense stupid of August will soon begin to fade like a bad Boone’s Farm Apple Wine hangover. And it may have one bottle of Boone’s Farm too many that destroyed the brain cells of the cavalcade of fools marching to the dog-whistles of Beck, Palin and the other sirens of wingnutopia.

Of course the stupid of August will leave a residue. One clear sign is the “thoughtful” conversation about the Beck Scamfest of last weekend. There have been endless idiotic (and yet serious) words written about this sideshow, but one of the silliest was the column by Reihan Salam that E.D. had some fun with yesterday. In it, the very “serious” conservative-up-and-comer compared Beck to Malcolm X. That is just stupider than bathing in pig shit.

Still, the roots of the Beck rally go deep. There is a very long American tradition to wrap a movement dedicated to limiting the Liberty and Rights of others in patriotism and old time Christianesque rhetoric. There are many examples one could turn to, but Beck reminds me most of the Time Magazine cover boy from June 1924, Hiram Evans. (more)

by Betsy Reed

It’s a horrifying thought: Is Sarah Palin progressives’ fault? Could it be that we brought this on ourselves?

Anna Holmes and Rebecca Traister think so. As they argued in their New York Times op-ed yesterday, “If Sarah Palin and her acolytes successfully redefine what it means to be a groundbreaking political woman, it will be because progressives let it happen.” By not doing enough to nurture their own women leaders, Holmes and Traister say, it was Dems who cleared the way for Palin and her raging pack of grizzlies to maul our politics. Progressives “have done nothing to stop an anti-choice, pro-abstinence, socialist-bashing Tea Party enthusiast from becoming the 21st century symbol of American women in politics.”

Holmes and Traister have a point: Democrats don’t do enough for women—either as constituents, as we saw with the heartbreaking abortion healthcare compromise, or as candidates. Indeed, the Democrats’ own wobbly commitment to promoting women hampered what should have been a slam-dunk response to the GOP’s bogus “Year of the Woman” hype after the June elections. Yes, Dems could point out that only eight of the Republicans’ 110 Young Guns were female, but when reporters asked for their equivalent stats, they had to mumble apologetically about “not being satisfied” that just three of thirteen members of Red to Blue, the party’s program to support candidates in battleground districts, are women.

But it’s not as if more assiduous Democratic efforts to recruit and support female candidates would have satisfied the same “appetite for female leadership” that Palin does, thereby pre-empting her astonishing ascension. What Palin satisfies, rather, is an appetite for right-wing female leadership. (more)

RELATED:
Mama Grizzlies to Working Moms: Drop Dead (story)

By Alex Morales
Bloomberg.com

This report filed at 3:40am (Pacific Time)
Hurricane Earl strengthened today, bearing down on North Carolina with winds of 145 miles (230 kilometers) per hour, prompting school closures, coastal evacuations and emergency declarations.

Dare and Hyde Counties in North Carolina said their schools will close today and tomorrow. Evacuations were ordered for Hatteras and Ocracoke Islands in the Outer Banks yesterday. North Carolina Governor Bev Perdue and Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell have both declared a state of emergency.

Earl was 410 miles south of Cape Hatteras moving north- northwest at 18 mph, the National Hurricane Center said in an advisory at 5 a.m. Miami time. The storm’s winds, already the strongest of the Atlantic season, accelerated from 140 mph three hours earlier. Hurricane-force winds are forecast to hit North Carolina tonight as Earl passes near the Outer Banks before scraping Cape Cod and hitting Nova Scotia at the weekend.

“On the track that we’re forecasting, there will be a significant impact to the Outer Banks,” Todd Kimberlain, a hurricane specialist at the center, said today in a telephone interview. “They have less than 24 hours before the arrival of hurricane conditions. There isn’t a whole lot more time, and conditions are going to deteriorate throughout the day.” (more)

By Jordan Fabian
The Hill.com

(Alan Simpson)

Alan “310 million tits” Simpson, the GOP co-chairman of President Obama’s fiscal commission, on Tuesday questioned some disability benefits paid to war veterans, saying they are “not helping” the nation’s debt crisis.

Simpson, an Army veteran and former chairman of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, specifically questioned automatic disability awards to those affected by the defoliant Agent Orange, which the U.S. used during the Vietnam War. Simpson said the payments don’t mesh with his panel’s goal of reducing the debt.

“The irony [is] that the veterans who saved this country are now, in a way, not helping us to save the country in this fiscal mess,” said Simpson, according to The Associated Press.

The ex-senator came under fire last week for comparing Social Security to a “milk cow with 310 million tits.” Several liberal Democratic lawmakers and advocacy groups have called for his resignation, creating an unwanted controversy for the fiscal panel, which is expected to make its recommendations for reducing the growth of the federal deficit in December. (more)

from YouTube
h/t JoeWo

CNN.com

Hurricane warnings and watches stretched from North Carolina to Delaware and covered parts of Massachusetts Wednesday as forecasters upgraded Hurricane Earl to a Category 4 storm and warned it will be approaching the East Coast by late Thursday.

“Dangerous and large Hurricane Earl poses a threat to the mid-Atlantic coast,” the National Hurricane Center said Wednesday evening, extending hurricane and tropical storm watches and warnings northward through Massachusetts.

“The core of the hurricane will approach the North Carolina coast by late Thursday,” the center said.

Mandatory evacuation orders were issued for Ocracoke Island, on North Carolina’s Outer Banks, and Cape Lookout National Seashore, as well as Hatteras Island. (more with current map of the hurricane’s path)

By SARAH BRUMFIELD
AP

SILVER SPRING, Md. – A man who railed against the Discovery Channel’s environmental programming for years burst into the company’s headquarters with at least one explosive device strapped to his body Wednesday and took three people hostage at gunpoint before police shot him to death, officials said.

The hostages — two Discovery Communications employees and a security officer — were unhurt after the hourslong standoff. Montgomery County Police Chief Thomas Manger said tactical officers moved in after officers monitoring Lee on building security cameras saw him pull out his handgun and point it at one of the hostages.

An explosive device on the gunman’s body detonated when police shot him, Manger said. Police were trying to determine whether two boxes and two backpacks the gunman also contained explosives.

Manger said police spent several hours negotiating with the armed man after he entered the suburban Washington building about 1 p.m. None of the 1,900 people who work in the building were hurt, and most made it out before the standoff ended. (more)

RELATED:
Discovery Building Hostage Crisis (photo album)
Police Chief: Discovery gunman shot dead; hostages safe (video)

By Don Hazen
Alternet.org

OK, picture this: unexpectedly Hillary Clinton runs in the next Democratic presidential primary and wins. Sarah Palin wins in the GOP primaries too, holding off a bevy of Republican men. In 2012, there is a presidential race between these two women. Do we have any doubt who would win that race? Hillary Clinton, and it wouldn’t be close. Tell that to Rebecca Traister, Anna Holmes and the New York Times.

Traister and Holmes wrote an oped for the New York Times on Sunday that got a lot of attention and provoked some major consternation. In the piece, they seem to be claiming that Sarah Palin is a new kind of superwoman, transcending anything Democrat women have to offer; that Nancy Pelosi and Hillary Clinton have failed in the face of this powerful “mama grizzly,” and that this failure (which the authors, in my opinion, have totally concocted) is to be blamed on “the left” (whoever they/we are).

About Sarah Palin’s super success, the authors write: “The left should be outraged and exasperated by all this — but at their own failings as much as Ms. Palin’s ascension. Since the 2008 election, progressive leaders have done little to address the obvious national appetite for female leadership. And despite (or because of) their continuing obsession with Ms. Palin, they have done nothing to stop an anti-choice, pro-abstinence, socialist-bashing Tea Party enthusiast from becoming the 21st century symbol of American women in politics.” (more)

by Ian Swanson
The Hill.com

The combat mission in Iraq has ended, marking a conclusion of sorts to a long and tumultuous political battle.

The war was a major factor in two presidential elections and contributed to the Democratic takeover of the House and Senate in 2006.

“Nowhere did the American people make it more clear that we need a new direction than in the war in Iraq,” Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), a fierce opponent of the war, said during election-night comments in 2006, when she learned she would become the first female Speaker in history.

President Obama probably would not have become president without his opposition to the war, which helped him campaign as a candidate of change during the 2008 Democratic primary against rivals, particularly then-Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY), who voted to authorize the war. (more)

CNN.com

Hurricane Earl was making its presence known Wednesday despite being hundreds of miles from the East Coast, menacing swimmers with dangerous rip currents and large swells as forecasters expanded a hurricane watch northward from North Carolina into coastal Virginia.

Mandatory evacuation orders were issued for Okracoke Island, on North Carolina’s Outer Banks, and Cape Lookout National Seashore.

Dare County Emergency Management officials issued a mandatory evacuation order for all visitors to Hatteras Island Wednesday, effective immediately.

Earl lost some of its punch early Wednesday and was downgraded to a Category 3 storm, with maximum sustained winds near 125 mph. However, it was still a major hurricane, and forecasters said more fluctuations in intensity were possible in the next 48 hours. Tracking maps show Earl approaching the North Carolina coast early Friday as a Category 3 storm. (more)

by Paul Rosenberg
Open Left <—Home Page

So, there’s this new Newsweek Poll with a number of questions about Islam and politics, including two specifically focused on Obama. I think that one thing these questions do is to demonstrate the significance of some things that Versailles–and not least the Obama Administration itself–has been trying to ignore.

First off, what both of the following say to me is that (1) identity-based culture wars aren’t going anywhere, no matter how much Obama might wish otherwise. (2) Off-the-wall narratives about Obama being a Muslim and being foreign-born are not just strange anomalous opinions without political consequence. More on what they say, afterward. Here’s the first one:

(more)

By Alex Pareene
Salon.com

Weeks after a 29-year-old former WWE wrestler died, 48-year-old former professional wrestler Gertrude “Luna” Vachon was found dead at her home Friday morning. Sheriff’s deputies report finding oxycodone at the scene and “several prescription bottles” in the bedroom. Which is probably not great news for former WWE CEO and Senate candidate Linda McMahon.

It wasn’t until 2006 that the WWE instituted any sort of serious drug and wellness policy (just as, conveniently, they instituted a “TV-PG” content policy in 2008, as McMahon stepped up her charitable work and shortly before she got herself appointed to the Connecticut Board of Education), and McMahon and her husband, Vince, have been accused on multiple occasions of tacitly or explicitly encouraging drug use by their performers, all of whom are paid as freelancers, not employees, who could be fired at any time (like, for example, if they’re unwilling or unable to perform through painful injuries).

The WWE pointed out that it paid to send Vachon to rehab in 2009, as part of that wellness program. The McMahon campaign said it would be premature to comment. The WWE added that people  die of drugs all the time, even people who didn’t wrestle professionally for years. (more)

by George Reid
Progressive News Daily

Today, our local paper, (which is, at best, a five minute read, or skim) announced that the state was opening up a web-site for concerned citizens to post their budget savings ideas.

With no renewal of the fine “stimulus” dollars, our state is projecting anywhere from a $4 to $8 billion dollar shortfall in the next biennium. (2012-2013). Like most states we are bound to a “balanced” budget. State employees have already forgone their raises for three years, and to protect my own self-interests, I spent this afternoon awake at my desk (yawn) and formulated some new ideas that I haven’t seen proposed elsewhere.

We have elections for Governor this fall, and while I have sent away for my absentee ballot (can’t enter the local school polling place), I doubt if I will see a worthy third choice, like “none of the above”.

So much for my motivation (which secretly is the hope of a guarantee of employment for at least 5 more years, and perhaps a 40% raise), I will now expound upon my brilliant thoughts.

1. Shut down the department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
If we just banish from our state anyone convicted of a crime, why would we need an expensive penal system and support network? Neighboring states won’t notice the influx of new folks and perhaps given the political history of close-by states, these folks might make viable candidates for top state governmental positions. Wouldn’t you rather know that your elected official is a former convict, prior to election? (savings estimate of $2 billion per year).

2. Legalize drugs (with a catch);
Our state currently allows the sale of fireworks as long as the purchaser signs a statement attesting to the fact that he or she is taking them out of state to set off. (In recorded history, no one has ever exploded a firecracker in Ohio, but we consistently blow up half of West Virginia every July.)

So given the state collects sales tax and vendor fees on the proceeds of these dangerous explosives, why not expand on this same scenario?

Legalize drugs, collect the sales tax and license fees for selling such as long as the “user” signs a similar form that they will not consume such within our borders. Given the major cash crop in the Southern part of our state is smoked, not eaten, it could easily produce a few more billion.

Read the rest of this entry »

By Mary Brophy Marcus
USA TODAY

In the past, most patients placed their entire trust in the hands of their physician. Your doc said you needed a certain medical test, you got it. Not so much anymore.

Jeff Chappell of Montgomery, Alabama, recalls a visit a couple of years ago to a Charlotte emergency room, near where the family used to live, with his wife, Jacqueline, who has adrenal failure.

“I blew up loud enough for everyone in the ER to hear me explain that while we were insured, an MRI was about a $1,000 co-pay,” Chappell says.

The couple knew her symptoms well (primarily stomach pain), knew that an MRI was not necessary under the circumstances and knew that a cortisone shot was what she needed.

“The doctor walked off in a huff,” Chappell says, but later came back and “compromised” by agreeing to give his wife the shot, but not before taking an abdominal X-ray to rule out other problems first. (more)

CNN.com

Authorities in North Carolina ordered the evacuation of Ocracoke Island late on Tuesday as Hurricane Earl whips closer to the United States.

The mandatory order, which was issued for all visitors and residents of Ocracoke, goes into effect at 5 a.m. on Wednesday, said Lindsey Mooney, interim emergency management coordinator with Hyde County Emergency Management. He added thousands of people would likely be affected by the decision.

Hurricane Earl is approaching the United States just ahead of Labor Day, a holiday weekend that many families spend at the beach.

The National Hurricane Center issued a hurricane watch for most of the North Carolina coast, from Surf City, North Carolina, to the state’s northern border with Virginia, including the Pamlico and Albemarle Sounds. It called Hurricane Earl “large and intense.” (more)

“Earl” is currently a Category 4 hurricane with winds at 135 M.P.H.

by Bob Herbert
The New York Times

At least 14 American soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan over the past few days.

We learned on Saturday that our so-called partner in this forlorn war, Hamid Karzai, fired a top prosecutor who had insisted on, gasp, fighting the corruption that runs like a crippling disease through his country.

Time magazine tells us that stressed-out, depressed and despondent soldiers are seeking help for their mental difficulties at a rate that is overwhelming the capacity of available professionals. What we are doing to these troops who have been serving tour after tour in Afghanistan and Iraq is unconscionable.

Time described the mental-health issue as “the U.S. Army’s third front,” with the reporter, Mark Thompson, writing: “While its combat troops fight two wars, its mental-health professionals are waging a battle to save soldiers’ sanity when they come back, one that will cost billions long after combat ends in Baghdad and Kabul.” (more)

By Ann Pietrangelo

Are you one of those people who pour the milk down the drain on the expiration date?

Expiration dates on food products can protect consumer health, but those dates are really more about quality than safety, and if not properly understood, they can also encourage consumers to discard food that is perfectly safe to eat.

A recent poll of more than 2,000 adults showed that most of us discard food we believe is unsafe to eat, which is a good thing, of course, but it is important that we understand what food expiration dates mean before we dump our food — and our money — down the drain or into the garbage. On average, in the U.S. we waste about 14% of the food we buy each year. The average American family of four throws out around $600 worth of groceries every year.

Which five foods are most often feared as being unsafe after the printed date? According to ShelfLifeAdvice.com, we are most wary of milk, cottage cheese, mayonnaise, yogurt, and eggs, and the site offers these helpful explanations: (more)

by Ewen MacAskill
The Guardian

Barack Obama formally brought an end to US combat operations in Iraq last night, seven years and 165 days after the invasion began, and declared it was time for America “to turn the page”.

In a televised address to the nation from the Oval Office, the president said America had paid a huge price for the war begun by George W Bush to topple Saddam Hussein.

“Tonight, I am announcing that the American combat mission in Iraq has ended. Operation Iraqi Freedom is over, and the Iraqi people now have lead responsibility for the security of their country,” he said.

Iraqi prime minister Nouri al-Maliki hailed the restoration of sovereignty to Iraq: “Iraq today is sovereign and independent. With the execution of the troop pullout, our relations with the United States have entered a new stage between two equal, sovereign countries.” (more)

Reuters

HAVANA (Reuters) – Fidel Castro took the blame for a wave of homophobia launched by his revolutionary government in the 1960s, but said it happened because he was distracted by other problems, in an interview published on Tuesday in a Mexican newspaper.

The former Cuban president told La Jornada the persecution of gays, who were rounded up at the time as supposed counterrevolutionaries and placed in forced labor camps, was a “great injustice” that arose from the island’s history of discrimination against homosexuals.

He said he was not prejudiced against gays, but “if anyone is responsible (for the persecution), it’s me.”

“I’m not going to place the blame on others,” he said.

Castro, 84, said he was busy in those days fending off threats from the United States, including attempts on his life, and trying to maintain the revolution that put him in power in 1959. (more)

By SASHA CHAVKIN
ProPublica
via YAHOO! News

Just over a week ago, when Kenneth Feinberg took over the process for handling damage claims from the Gulf oil spill, he promised to cut through the delays and confusion that applicants faced under the much-maligned BP system.

But signs are emerging that Feinberg’s goals — particularly his pledge to respond to personal claims for emergency payments within 48 hours — may be overly ambitious. Applicants participating in ProPublica’s BP Claims Project say that they have not received responses within two days of filing claims and that they have encountered an array of service problems, from a system crash to difficulty in transferring critical paperwork.

Amy Weiss, Feinberg’s spokeswoman, acknowledged on Sunday that the facility was experiencing delays. “In the first few weeks … we may be short of our 48-hour goal,” Weiss said in an email.

Weiss said many of the claims could not be processed because they lacked sufficient documentation, and that the new Gulf Coast Claims Facility (GCCF) has approved about $6 million in payments to just under 1,200 individuals. indicate that only about 6 percent of total claims — for both individuals and businesses — had been paid as of Monday. (Statistics from the GCCFmore)

By Amanda Gardner
Health Day.com <—Home Page

TUESDAY, Aug. 31 (HealthDay News) — The nation’s leading group of pediatricians has issued a strong policy statement directed toward pediatricians, parents and the media on the danger of messages American teens and children are getting about sex from television, the Internet and other media outlets.

The statement, Sexuality, Contraception, and the Media, was published online Aug. 30 and in the September print issue of the journal Pediatrics.

“The media represents arguably the leading sex educator in America today,” said Dr. Victor Strasburger, the lead author of the paper. “We do such a poor job of educating kids about sex in sex education classes in school, and parents are notoriously shy about talking to kids about sex. The media picks up the slack.”

Seventy percent of teen shows contain sexual content, Strasburger added, “and less than 10 percent of that content involves what anyone would classify as being responsible content. There’s no mention of contracting an STD [sexually transmitted disease] or the need to wait to have sex until later.”

The United States leads the western world in teen pregnancy rates and American teens have an alarmingly high rate of STDs — one in four children. (more)

By Holly Bailey
The Upshot
Yahoo! News

Amid questions about her 2012 ambitions, Sarah Palin was plunged into some renewed controversy over her role on the 2008 GOP presidential ticket Tuesday, when John McCain’s daughter Meghan launched the promotional tour for her new book, “Dirty Sexy Politics.” In the book, Meghan McCain recalls that Palin’s presence made for “drama, stress … panic” in McCain campaign circles. The younger McCain entertains, but ultimately dismisses, the thought that the defeat of the 2008 GOP ticket “was Sarah Palin’s fault.”

Meghan McCain has been reluctant until now to say anything publicly about Palin. But in an interview Tuesday with “Good Morning America” host George Stephanopoulos, she explained that “I’m speaking out now because I have conflicting feelings” about Palin, noting that despite the anxiety associated with her nomination, Palin “brought so much momentum and enthusiasm to the campaign.” You can watch McCain’s full “Good Morning America” interview below, courtesy of ABC News; the Palin discussion begins around the two-minute mark.

Meanwhile, in a reminder of how Palin’s stature has skyrocketed in conservative circles, a California judge last week ordered the release of Palin’s so-called tour rider, which lists her requirements for personal appearances. Officials at Cal State Stanislaus, where Palin spoke in June, had refused to release details of how much she was paid. But students there discovered copies of the contract in a trashcan and released details to the media — all of which have now been confirmed. (more)

Photos of Meghan McCain HERE

By Alex Henderson
Alternet.org

For decades, social conservatives have had a lot to say about the decline of “family values” in the United States, and they have a long list of people they like to blame, including gays and lesbians, Hollywood, the adult entertainment industry, feminists, rappers, the ACLU and abortion providers. As the Christian Right sees it, a major cultural war has been taking place in the U.S. — and the American family is being attacked by everyone from Larry Flynt and Planned Parenthood to 50 Cent and proponents of gay marriage.

Social conservatives are right about one thing: the American family is under attack, but not from cultural liberals. The greatest threat to the American family is economic stress — and the modern-day Republicans and social conservatives who preach family values are the ones who have done the most to imperil the American family. From union-busting and the outsourcing of jobs to developing countries and opposing universal health care, social conservatives have not only endangered the American middle class — they have also made it increasingly hard to raise a “traditional” family. (more)

Think Progress.org

House of Representatives
House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) Said Stimulus Funds Would Create “Much Needed Jobs.” Minority Leader Boehner: “The stated intent of the so-called stimulus package was to create jobs, and certainly a $57 million slush-fund studying projects did nothing to achieve that goal. With Ohio’s unemployment rate the highest it’s been in 25 years, I’m pleased that federal officials stepped in to order Ohio to use all of its construction dollars for shovel-ready projects that will create much-needed jobs.” [Boehner Statement, 6/15/09]

-Congressman Boehner Voted Against The Recovery Package Twice [Roll Call Vote #46; Roll Call Vote #70]
-Congressman Boehner Regularly Blasts The Stimulus And Instructed His Caucus To Oppose It. [Huffington Post, 1/27/09]

Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-VA) Held A Job Fair Where Nearly Half The 30 Organizations Received Stimulus Funds; Cantor Also Supported Using Stimulus Funds To Build A Washington To Richmond Rail. Washington Post: “For months, Democrats have dubbed U.S. Rep. Eric Cantor of Virginia a hypocrite for strongly opposing the federal stimulus package only to promote aspects of it later. Here’s the latest example: Nearly half of the 30 organizations participating in a job fair Cantor is holding Monday in Culpeper were recipients of the stimulus…In the summer, Cantor came under fire after he talked about his support of using stimulus money to build a rail project from Washington to Richmond.” [Washington Post Virginia Blog, 11/18/09]

- Congressman Eric Cantor Voted Against The Recovery Package Twice [Roll Call Vote #46; Roll Call Vote #70]

Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC) Wrote A Letter Stating ‘We Know’ A Stimulus Grant Would ‘Provide Jobs And Investment.’ According to a Washington Times FOIA request, Wilson “elbowed his way into the rush for federal stimulus cash in a letter he sent to Mr. Vilsack on behalf of a foundation seeking funding. ‘We know their endeavor will provide jobs and investment in one of the poorer sections of the Congressional District,’ he wrote to Mr. Vilsack in the Aug. 26, 2009, letter.” [Washington Times, 2/9/10]

-Rep. Wilson Voted Against The Recovery Package Twice [Roll Call Vote #46; Roll Call Vote #70]

(more hypocrisy HERE)

by Kyle
People for The American Way
h/t JoeWo <—Home Page

For the record, in citing 1 John 4:1-3, Moore is saying that Beck’s effort to unleash revival in America is operating under the spirit of the Antichrist.

Russell Moore is Dean of the School of Theology and Senior Vice-President for Academic Administration at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and he does not approve of all those self-proclaimed Christians who are disgracing their faith by aligning themselves with the false and dangerous teachings of a Mormon like Glenn Beck:

A Mormon television star stands in front of the Lincoln Memorial and calls American Christians to revival. He assembles some evangelical celebrities to give testimonies, and then preaches a God and country revivalism that leaves the evangelicals cheering that they’ve heard the gospel, right there in the nation’s capital.

The news media pronounces him the new leader of America’s Christian conservative movement, and a flock of America’s Christian conservatives have no problem with that.

If you’d told me that ten years ago, I would have assumed it was from the pages of an evangelical apocalyptic novel about the end-times. But it’s not. It’s from this week’s headlines. And it is a scandal.

To Jesus, Satan offered power and glory. To us, all he needs offer is celebrity and attention.

(more)

By Alan Levin
USA TODAY

Flaws in flight simulator training helped trigger some of the worst airline accidents in the past decade, according to a USA TODAY analysis of federal accident records.

More than half of the 522 fatalities in U.S. airline accidents since 2000 have been linked to problems with simulators, devices that are used nearly universally to train the nation’s airline pilots, the records show.

Simulator training is credited with saving thousands of lives. But the problem, according to National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) case files and safety experts, is that in rare but critical instances they can trick pilots into habits that lead to catastrophic mistakes.

Last month, the NTSB blamed deficient simulator training in part for the Dec. 20, 2008, crash of a Continental Airlines jet in Denver.

The Boeing 737-500 skidded off a runway at high speed and burst into flames because of the pilot’s inability to steer while trying to take off in gusty cross-winds, the NTSB ruled. Six people suffered severe injuries. (more)

By RICHARD ESPOSITO, BRIAN ROSS
and RHONDA SCHWARTZ
ABC News

The arrests of two men in Amsterdam for questioning in a terrorism investigation comes at a time U.S. law enforcement officials have been on a heightened state of alert to a possible hijacking of U.S. carrier flights from the Middle East, according to one senior U.S. official. In response , in the past several weeks, authorities have greatly ramped up the number of Federal air marshals on overseas flights, especially to Dubai, the official said.

As a result, air marshals were onboard a Chicago-Amsterdam flight yesterday and kept a close watch on two suspicious passengers who had triggered security alarms, but were allowed to travel for “investigative purposes,” law enforcement sources told ABC News.

Ahmed Mohamed Nasser al Soofi and Hezem al Murisi were taken off the United flight in Amsterdam by Dutch officials who detained them at the request of the U.S. government for questioning in a terrorism investigation. Passengers on the flight recorded a cell phone video of the two men being taken into custody. (more)

By Anneli Rufus
Alternet.org

Those of us who need prescription eyewear need prescription eyewear. Are you wearing yours to read this? Imagine if you weren’t. Imagine life without your glasses for a year, a week, an hour. Yet many health insurance plans, especially for the unemployed or self-employed, don’t cover them. Mine doesn’t.

Last year, I went shopping for no-line progressive bifocals in small oval metal frames. Name brands mean nothing to me. Price does. My high astigmatism and need for bifocals disqualify me from those buy-one-get-one-free deals, which almost always involve only single-vision specs.

In store after store, megachains and optical boutiques alike, small oval metal frames fitted with lenses matching my prescription started at $300. One popular shop quoted me $582 for the lenses alone.

I bought a pair of no-line progressive bifocals in small oval metal frames for $44 online. I’m wearing them right now. (more)

By David Dayen
FiredogLake.com

Lawrence O’Donnell drank the Kool-Aid on Social Security a long time ago, probably from back when he worked for Daniel Patrick Moynihan in the 1990s. Last night he showed a consistent ability to swallow myths about the most successful social program in American history. He blithely told OWL’s Ashley Carson that Social Security “will not be there” for her generation when it would be able to pay out 78% of scheduled benefits by 2037, which in actual dollars will be more than today’s payout. Does this mean the program ought to be managed to get all scheduled benefits paid at that time? Practically nothing else the government does is the cause for such concern 27 years out, and frankly there is no way to assess the adequacy of a 27-year forecast. All we know is that Social Security’s long-term actuarial situation actually improved slightly this year, and if we ever get policymakers who know how to expand an economy legitimately, the problem would dissipate quite a bit more. There are simply more pressing needs inside and outside the payroll tax system. Nobody on the cat food commission wants to talk about Medicare, paid out of the same pot and scheduled to exhaust its trust fund much quicker, for example. The Affordable Care Act certainly didn’t solve that problem.

When pressed for solutions, Carson suggested capturing the same amount of income as part of the payroll tax cap – 90% – that was the historical mandate of the program, unlike the 83% of income that the payroll tax captures today. I have another suggestion – a decent immigration system that takes the entire economy out of the shadows, increases wages over all sectors and demonstrably expands the economy’s productive capacity. (more)

by Rachel Slajda
TPM Muckraker

The Islamic Center of Murfreesboro reportedly received threats in the week before the fire on its property, according to a local TV station, including one that was recorded on voicemail.

News Channel 5 reports that someone called the Islamic center a few days before the fire and left a message saying, in part, “You need to get out of the country now.”

A fire was discovered early Saturday morning at the site of the proposed Islamic center and mosque in Murfreesboro, Tenn. An accelerant had been dumped over four pieces of construction equipment, and one was set on fire.

In another development, other vehicles owned by the same construction company, parked in another location, were also vandalized Friday night. (more)

PRWatch <—Home Page
via Black Listed News.com <—Home Page

The grassroots pressure group Americans for Prosperity (AFP), that actively fought health care reform, boasts “our citizen activists” are “the heart and soul” of the organization. So AFP wants the public and the media to believe. But an exhaustive report in the August 30, 2010 issue of The New Yorker magazine, shows that the heart and soul behind AFP are really the oil billionaire brothers David and Charles Koch of Koch Industries, whose privately-owned oil enterprise has made them among the richest men in America. In addition to petroleum interests, the Kochs also own a host of familiar products like Brawny paper towels, Dixie cups, Georgia-Pacific lumber, Stainmaster carpet and Lycra. Their massive combined wealth makes them the third richest people in the country, behind only Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, who are better known to the public. The Kochs have intentionally obscured their involvement on the American political scene through the creation of an elaborate network of front groups, think tanks, foundations and astroturf organizations, but the public is quickly getting to know the Koch brothers better. Given their extreme wealth and pervasive efforts to manipulate the American public, it is a name everyone should get to know very, very well.

Pulling Strings in Secret: Koch-Funded Front Groups Galore
For decades, the Kochs have been quietly applying their massive wealth to influence U.S. policy in ways that keep the public from detecting the extent of their involvement. The New Yorker explains that the Koch’s long-time strategy is to form “slippery organizations with generic-sounding names” that “make it difficult to ascertain the extent of their influence in Washington.” Americans for Prosperity is one of those organizations. It turns out, there have been quite a few. (more)

MIAMI (AFP) – Powerful Hurricane Earl, which pummeled several Caribbean islands with heavy winds and rain, churned on a course Tuesday that could threaten some US coastal areas, forecasters said.

Packing fierce winds of up to 135 miles  an hour, Earl, a powerful category four storm, brushed past Puerto Rico and steamed northwest towards the Bahamas and may affect parts of the eastern US seaboard.

If the forecasts are accurate, Earl could at least lead to dangerous waves and surf and wreck plans for vacationers for the upcoming Labor Day weekend.

Earl comes on the heels of Hurricane Danielle, blamed for rough surf and riptides in New York and New Jersey last weekend.

Earl damaged homes, downed trees, blocked roads and snapped power lines in the Caribbean, including the French islands of Saint Martin and Saint Barthelemy, where thousands of people were left without power. (more)

RELATED:
Hurricane Earl Threatens East Coast (video / ABC News)
U.S. Prepares for Earl’s Arrival (video)